


In Your Arms

by justsayrae



Category: Charmed (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dead Bianca, F/M, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-18 17:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5937145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justsayrae/pseuds/justsayrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a vanquish goes horribly wrong, Dani Parker does the only thing she can do to save herself and casts a spell to find safety. Except the spell does more than just get her out of danger; it transports her back some twenty-odd years into the past and deposits her at the feet of the Charmed One's neurotic whitelighter, who is also from the future. Chris/OFC, rated T for now.</p><p>This is only slightly AU because the entire story won't be /strictly/ canon-compliant, but I'm planning on keeping the divergence so minuscule that the AU tag probably isn't even necessary. This story revolves a great deal around the gaps in the show's timeline, so there aren't a great deal of changes necessary. This is not just a retelling of Season Six or anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Safe._

It was a foreign word to Danielle Parker, one that had the young witch's eyebrow arching as she was finally pulled away from her thoughts and into the conversation she had been rather diligently avoiding for the past few moments. A finger shifting to mark her place, she looked up and sent a somewhat amused glance in her friend's direction, lips pulling into a wry smile despite her irritation at having her concentration broken.

"Safe?" she parroted then, a little snort escaping her as the word hung in the air for a moment. "Since when is  _that_  a possibility?"

From where he stood across the room, the dark-haired man let out a loud breath of air, his expression quite clearly lacking any amusement. "You know what I mean."

At that, the witch couldn't help but lift both of her brows, lips pursing as she feigned ignorance. "No, I'm not really sure that I do," came her teasing answer, her gaze flickering around the room as if the answer might just jump out at her. "Or am I missing something? What, did our Evil Overlord go soft while I wasn't looking? Did he decide to offer amnesty? Oh! do I get to pass Go and collect two hundred dollars?"

Even from the distance, she could see the way the man's jaw clenched in response. "Danielle."

She took the opportunity to mimic the little huff of air he had given earlier, the smile fading from her lips as she muttered something under her breath about him being no fun. "What do you expect me to say, Zach?" she countered. "Yes, fine, I know what you mean, but that doesn't mean that I agree with you."

"Dan—"

"No, no!" came her quick interruption. "Don't you ' _Danielle_ ' me! You're the one being unreasonable here." Feeling the need to emphasize her point, the brunette lifted the leather-bound book she had been reading and gave it a pointed shake. "There's a reason I'm looking for tips on how to cast a stronger cloaking spell, you know. Going out and calling more attention to myself? Yeah, that's not really what I need right now, in case you didn't notice."

The sour expression on her friend's face made it clear exactly how little he appreciated the sarcasm. Still, he took a moment and seemed to collect himself, before crossing the room and sitting down on the only other chair in the sparsely decorated living room. "I know," he asserted then, tone noticeably gentler. "That's why I'm here, Dani. Yeah, you  _don't_  need to call any more attention to yourself, but there's already a spotlight aimed at you. If you want to hide in the shadows for a bit, you're going to need to do something about the demon you've got on your tail."

For a long moment, the witch only held her friend's gaze. " _Spotlight_  is a bit of an overstatement, don't you think?"

"Not really."

Pursing her lips, the young witch let out a sigh and leaned back into the firm cushions behind her. She took another moment to consider her old friend, paying careful attention to the way he was sitting, shoulders visibly tensed and foot tapping quietly in agitation. She didn't remember having ever seen him so clearly worked up.

But she supposed she couldn't blame him for being so tense, given how close of a call it had been the last time he'd visited, when she'd very nearly gotten the both of them killed.

She hoped he wouldn't blame her for being more cautious this time around.

"Zach, I appreciate the concern," she told him carefully, "I really do, but I think you're overestimating the threat here. I'm  _always_  going to have to worry about someone or something looking for me. That's just the way it is; I'm a  _witch_. Having a demon after me isn't anything new, and it's not something that's going to ever go away."

"I'm starting to realize that," came the solemn response.

But despite the relatively depressing mood that their conversation had taken on, Danielle offered a small smile as she held her old friend's gaze. "Not all of us are lucky enough to be warlocks, able to blend in with the evil community and live a relatively normal life."

He made a noise of disagreement, his head giving a quick shake before he dropped his head to look down at the ground. "Lucky," he parroted, the word sounding bitter on his tongue.

Her smile only grew, however, for she immediately recognized the conversation's parallel. "You know what I mean."

But to her surprise, the man before her didn't sit there and try to fight back a chuckle like she had expected. Instead, he simply lifted his head and fixed an angry glare in her direction, the intensity of the look enough to kill her own amusement before he even spoke. "You think I'm  _lucky_  to have to do this? To have to walk around every day pretending to not give a  _damn_  about the fact that everyone around me is plotting to go after rogue witches? You think I'm  _lucky_  to have to worry every goddamn day if they're going to find out about you, because you went off and did something  _stupid_  and got caught?"

It took the witch a moment to process her friend's obvious anger, but even when she did, she was still at a bit of a loss over what to say. "Zach—"

He cut her off before he could continue, a single palm raised to ask her to wait. But instead of adding more to his rant, he simply ran his other hand over his face, a loud sigh escaping him as he pinched his eyes shut. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Quietly, she shifted in her seat, leaving the book behind and moving down to the other end of the sofa so that she was sitting closer to him, so that he was able to see the sincerity she was trying to nonverbally convey to him. "Zach, you're my best friend, and I am truly, deeply sorry that our friendship has put you in harm's way more than once. I can't imagine how hard it is for you to have to live such a double life, and I'm sorry that I haven't been a very good friend lately; I should've paid more attention to what you have to go through every day. I shouldn't have convinced you to come along with—"

"Don't apologize for that," came the gentle interruption, though the warlock before her still hadn't lifted his face from his palm. "You wanted to protect an innocent, and you didn't know that there would be other warlocks there. …You didn't know."

"No, I didn't," she conceded, unable to argue that she  _should_  have known or that she  _should_  have listened and not gone after the demon. For while Danielle might have regretted dragging her friend into that whole mess and putting his life in danger, she simply couldn't bring herself to regret having saved the innocent witch who's life had been in danger. She would never regret that. "But I'm trying to be more careful  _now_ , Zach," she redirected. "That's why I don't think it's a good idea to go after this demon. It's safer to lie low and not risk drawing unnecessary attention to myself."

At that, the man before her finally turned his head and looked up at her, brown eyes flickering over her features before blinking closed as a brief, humorless laugh escaped him. "All due respect, but a better cloaking spell won't do a damned thing if you're already dead. I'm all for caution, Dani, but letting this demon get away? That's not caution; that's suicide."

The woman made a noise of disagreement. "I've vanquished  _two_  demons in the past year," she reminded him, recalling each of those moments vividly, just as she  _also_  vividly recalled the close calls that ha followed, when  _He_  had found out someone had vanquished his lackeys. "It's a miracle they haven't caught me yet, Zach. …And you know what they say, third time's the  _charm_."

He didn't so much as crack a smile. "That's not funny."

But Danielle had to disagree again, another wry smile pulling over her lips as she thought about the well-timed line. "Come on," she countered, "that was a good pun!"

"The demon's getting close, Dani."

Another sigh, and the witch couldn't help but wonder when her friend had lost his sense of humor. Had it been the near-death experience from a month ago, or had it happened more subtly over the years?

"Danielle."

"Yes, yes," she responded. "I know. But I  _really_  don't—"

"Come on, Dani," he interrupted before she could voice the objection he'd obviously been expecting. "I'm already driving myself crazy over here. I need you to take this threat seriously."

She didn't take the threat seriously — she didn't even  _pretend_  to take it seriously because there was nothing at all special about this particular demon that was after her — but she  _did_  take her friend's worry seriously. Sighing, she sat up a bit and rubbed at the back of her neck. "Why are you so worried about this one demon, huh? It's not as if there won't be someone else to pick up where he left off, and it's not as if I'll be terribly safe after going out and making my presence known."

The man seemed to sense the shift in the witch's thoughts, for he looked up at her with a much more focused expression, lips still drawn in a tight line. "This one's different; he's a bounty hunter."

Danielle let out a scoff and rolled her eyes. "Lower level," she recited, "energy balls, nothing special. That's not enough to get  _you_  worked up."

"This one's  _different_ ," her friend only stressed again, expression pointed as he refused to move on the point.

And after a moment's consideration, the brunette decided that that was as good of an answer as she was going to get. With an air of self-sacrifice, the woman threw her arms up in the air and fell back into the couch in defeat. "Alright, fine. I'll deal with the bounty hunter, but only  _after_  I fix this cloaking spell."

"Dani—"

"Who are you and what have you done with Zachary?" came her tired objection, still not used to seeing her friend so worked up about going out to vanquish a demon.

And perhaps he realized how out of character it seemed, for he seemed to settle down a bit in response, his head dropping as he glanced at the floor. "I'm just trying to help you."

"You're trying to get me killed," she joked, only for her amusement to die once again when she saw the way her friend flinched at her words. Right. Only too late, she realized that it might've been a bit soon for the death jokes. The guilt that flooded her finally broke down her the last of her resolve, however, and before she knew it, she was up on her feet and brushing down her jeans. "Alright, you want to do this now? Let's do this now. I should have a basic potion lying around here somewhere that'll do the trick."

There was a moment's hesitation before the warlock got to his feet, his expression the epitome of seriousness as he gave a single nod, and held out his hand, glass vial resting in his palm. "I already took the liberty of making you one."

The witch let out a chuckle at that, shaking her head at exactly how well her friend knew her. With a smile, she took the vial and wrapped her fingers firmly around it. "You didn't doubt for a second that you'd be able to convince me, did you?"

A solemn smile, and the overly-serious man stepped backwards and out of the way. "I was counting on it," he admitted, one arm raising in gesture toward the apartment's exit.

The leaving process took a moment, what with Danielle needing to double-check all of the wards before finally lifting the crystal that lay directly in front of the door, and in doing so, breaking the protective 'cage' that prevented evil beings from crossing in or out. A moment later, when her warlock friend had crossed through the threshold, the crystal was replaced and the door pulled shut. A final turn of a key, and the woman held out her arm.

Obligingly, the man rested his hand beneath her elbow. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Her fingers tightened around the potion just a second before she felt the familiar internal  _tugging_  of a warlock's blink. The transportation was over within less than a second, but for a moment, Danielle wasn't sure if something hadn't gone wrong, and she hadn't somehow gotten stuck in the middle of a blink; the world was pitch black around her, after all, and she had never had trouble seeing upon her arrival before.

It took a second before she recognized the absence of her friend's touch on her elbow. "Zach?"

His voice sounded several yards away when he responded. "I'm sorry."

"You're what?" Somewhat cautiously, the witch turned her head in the direction of the voice and ever-so-slowly inched her toes forward, feeling the need to test the floor to see if she was even on solid ground. It appeared that she was, for she felt something stable and firm through the padding of her shoe. "Zach, I can't see. I don't know—"

"I'm so sorry, Dani," the warlock's voice interrupted to repeat, tone somewhat emotional, "but I didn't have a choice."

And Dani didn't need to know anything more to figure out in that second what had happened.

A feeling of cold dread washed over her. Her heartbeat rapidly increasing, she glanced anxiously around her, even though she figured the effort basically useless, given how dark her surroundings were. Another hesitant step, this time in the direction  _away_  from where the warlock's voice had come from, and the witch held one hand out cautiously in front of her. Eyes still darting around uselessly, she tried her best to bite back all of the emotions that were practically bursting inside of her.

"Why?" she managed to ask, only to get no reply. "Zach?"

A slight roaring sound answered her second call, and Danielle had just enough time to spin around and get her hand up in front of her face to stop the speeding ball of flames that had appeared out of the darkness, a protective blue barrier appearing in front of her hand just a fraction of a second before she would've been hit. The fireball bounced back immediately, illuminating a few feet around it as it moved, before it crashed against what appeared to be a cave wall and burned out.

It hadn't produced enough light to reveal who was behind the attack, but that didn't turn out to be necessary, for a noise of pleasant surprise sounded from behind her.

She spun around blindly, only to hear a chuckle in response. "So the warlock wasn't lying after all."

As quietly as possible, the witch attempted to step to the side without drawing any attention to her movements… though with how loudly her heart was pounding, she half expected her attacker to be able to hear her, anyways. She didn't say a word.

"The witch with the gift of Deflection," the faceless voice called out with what sounded like amusement, the volume remaining the same as before and seeming to indicate to Danielle that he hadn't moved any closer. "You know,  _He_ has been looking for you for a while."

And oh, did she have a response for that! But she kept her mouth firmly closed, biting back the retort that came to mind and instead continuing to focus on silently moving to the side. Though she didn't have the slightest clue where she was, she figured there had to be an exit  _somewhere_ … the trick would just be staying alive long enough to catch sight of the way out when a fireball flew by.

The pounding in her ears made it almost impossible to hear her attacker's next comment. "Although, I'm having a hard time believing that  _you_  are the witch who has escaped our grasp for so long… This is almost going to be too easy."

She'd almost moved another step by the time another fireball appeared and sailed straight toward her, but she was quick enough to deflect it with ease, sending it hurling back. At about the same time that her mind processed the fact that she had again not managed to catch a glimpse of her attacker, she also realized what exactly had just happened: the fireball had sailed  _straight towards her_.

Whoever it was attacking her, he could see in the dark.

She was screwed.

Panicking a bit, she moved to step blindly to the right, but before she knew what was happening, a grip appeared on her shoulder at the same time a blinding pain exploded in her abdomen. Her assailant hissed something into her ear before pulling back and leaving her to fall to her knees and then to the ground, but the words didn't process in her mind.

An athame. She hadn't seen that coming.

That had been the plan all along, though, hadn't it? Deflection was a powerful gift, one that had always protected her in the nick of time, but it was one that she had to voluntarily activate. Blindness… well that had to be the only real way to render her gift completely useless; if she couldn't see what was coming, she didn't stand a chance. It was a clever plan.

It was a plan that clearly had been  _intimately_  crafted, that had been intricate enough to get her out of her warded apartment and thought out enough to play on her one biggest weakness.

It had been Zach's idea — she didn't need someone else to tell her that; there simply wasn't anyone else who would have known her well enough to know how to best her. Of course, she didn't doubt that Zach coming up with a plan had, itself, been a part of a bigger plan, undoubtedly carried out by someone who had threatened the warlock beyond any sense of morality… but that didn't take the sting out of the realization.

And it sure as hell didn't take the sharp, shooting pain out of the blow.

A shaky, pain-filled gasp of a breath escaped her as the witch lay on the floor, her mind struggling to work at all. She needed a way out.

"Let it be known, witch, that your death came at the hands of Vrymar."

She wasn't getting anywhere without some  _major_  magical assistance, however, and she didn't exactly have anyone to call on for help.

Another fireball appeared several yards away — apparently this  _Vrymar_  had paced away at some point after stabbing her — and it bounced almost tauntingly over the hand of a demon who was  _clearly_  relishing the momenta bit too much, his mouth still running despite the fact that he lacked even a single person to pay attention to his little victory speech.

She had to do something.

" _Parker witches, hear my plea,_ " she managed to mutter under her breath, eyes pinching closed as the pain in her abdomen seemed to only grow. " _Betrayal I could not foresee. But evil—_ " It took nearly all of her willpower to keep focused through the searing pain, and to keep her words quiet despite the nearly overwhelming urge to scream, "— _cannot win tonight… So help me change this wrong to right_."

But help  _how_?

She didn't even know what she could ask for that would get her out of this situation. Light? Mercy?

Safety.

Had she not been in immeasurable pain and under a  _major_  time constraint, she would have laughed deliriously. Safety. She needed to be  _safe_.

" _Help me move through time and space,_ " she continued quickly, words flying through her mind as she tried to match the rhyme. " _To safety's comforting embrace_."

And before she knew it, light engulfed her, even as blackness started to creep in around the sides of her vision and her consciousness started to fade.

She thought she heard a shout, but she couldn't be sure.

A muffled, far-off feminine cry of  _"Leo!"_

Nothing. Sweet, sweet nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Keyden and the guest who left kudos! I'm not going to bother you guys every chapter begging for comments or kudos, but I do want to take the time to say this once: knowing what you guys are thinking or feeling about the story or any chapter is super important to me and I appreciate every kudos or comment. I'm never going to hold a chapter hostage until I get some form of feedback, but I won't deny that I get a huge amount of motivation from kudos and comments. No worries if you don't want to do either, but please know you are always more than welcome to share your thoughts and opinions with me. Hate Danielle? Think she's overpowered? Tell me! Think I've got someone out of character? PLEASE let me know! Love something I'm doing? Intrigued by something? I'd love to hear it. Need clarification? Don't hesitate to ask. Have suggestions/advice? I'm happy to consider it.
> 
> Okay. I swear I'm done with the shameless comment/kudos promotion, now. I'll shut up and leave you to your reading. (:

Danielle came into consciousness all too quickly, a great gasp escaping her as she lurched upward and forward a bit, completely unprepared for the sensory overload she was suddenly experiencing.

"Woah, woah, woah!" a voice from her left called out, tone entirely too calm and relaxed considering the speed at which the world was currently spinning. "You're okay," the woman's voice assured then. "Everything's okay."

She felt a steadying grip on her upper arm, holding her still despite her swimming senses, and the young witch could do nothing more than reach out blindly, her hand brushing against what felt like denim. Her other hand found its way to the floor beneath her, palm pressing down on what felt like hardwood, though she couldn't be sure, because her vision was still whirling around her, swirling little black dots obscuring bits and pieces of her eyeshot.

She figured that couldn't have meant anything particularly good.

"Just take a deep breath," a different voice advised, this one more masculine and coming from her right.

And though she didn't know who exactly she was listening to, she figured the advice was as good as any. Steading herself, she drew in a few slow breaths and forcefully blinked her eyes for a moment, watching as the world slowed around her and the black dots began to fade away until everything seemed to shift back to normal. Everything  _including_  her memory.

Awash with renewed panic, the witch pulled her hand back from the knee it had been resting on, immediately relocating it so that she could clutch at her abdomen. But there was no stabbing pain there, and when she looked down, the light blue blouse she was wearing had dirt on one side of it, but there was no blood staining it, no tear, even, from where the fabric must have been punctured.

"Yeah… you weren't exactly in the best shape when you arrived," the first voice commented, reminding the young witch that she was far from alone.

Her gaze flickered up and to her left, then, taking a moment to look over the brown-haired woman who was still crouching beside her. Though the woman wore a smile, there was noticeable concern in her expression, and her hands were still held out, hovering nearby as if the woman wasn't sure whether any steadying would be needed again. "You healed me," Danielle deduced aloud, shifting a bit on the ground so that she was sitting at less of an awkward angle.

Something akin to relief seemed to appear in the woman's expression, but still she shook her head and nodded in gesture. "Leo did."

Following the other woman's gaze easily, Danielle turned to consider the short-haired man that crouched on the other side of her, the same friendly-but-concerned expression on his face, as well. Her attention flickered upwards as movement in her peripheral vision revealed a third person in the room — a younger man with messy brown hair who was leaning against a wall, arms crossed in front of his chest and an unreadable expression on his face.

She turned quickly back to the one named Leo. "You have the power to heal?" Such a gift was rare, after everything that had happened, but she supposed it wasn't impossible that a few had survived. After all, there was no other explanation for the fact that she had been stabbed, but now had no trace of the wound. "Are you a whitelighter?"

The way the man opened his mouth and then closed it in a grimace suggested the answer wasn't an easy one. And Danielle figured that was understandable; had she not just been healed by this man, she would not have been quick to admit to being a witch, either.

But it turned out that Dani's understanding was poorly placed, for the woman beside her answered with a somewhat sharp "No." A sigh followed. " _Apparently_ , the whitelighter that we've been assigned is actually a  _studentlighter_ ," she grumbled, punctuating her statement with a sarcastic smile that was sent in the direction of the standing man.

Again, the young witch followed the elder woman's gaze, watching as the apparent whitelighter clenched his jaw and looked away, irritation practically radiating off of him.

"Leo's an Elder."

And, for a long moment, time seemed to freeze at that little revelation.

"An  _Elder_?" the confused woman echoed in utter disbelief. "But that's not—" A glance around the room had her cutting off her statement, however, a feeling of dread beginning to tighten in her stomach. But the three were all looking at her again, and Danielle quickly forced a smile in order to hide her growing panic.

An Elder.

But the Elders were all long dead, and most of the whitelighters weren't even around anymore. Yet this woman now was talking about her companions as if it was almost normal, as if… She'd said  _assigned_ , hadn't she? As if the Elders were still around  _assigning_  whitelighters to guide and watch over various witches?

Her head was spinning again, this time for a very different reason. Carefully, she started to get up to her feet, forcing another smile when the woman and the…  _Elder_  quickly moved to help pull her up. She disentangled herself as soon as it was polite to do so, tapping her fingers against her upper thighs a bit as she gave a cautious glance around.

"Do you… uh, normally have an Elder at your disposal?"

A sharp feminine bark of a laugh answered her, and the El— and  _Leo_  offered a quick, uncomfortable smile as he rocked back on his heels, hands also at his thighs. "It's a long story," he explained.

She'd been getting that impression. Just like she'd  _also_  been getting the very distinct impression that something was very, very wrong.

She turned, eyes darting back and forth a bit as she looked over the foyer she seemed to be standing in, a staircase behind her, a dining room to her left, and what appeared to be a living room and a sitting area in front of her. She frowned at the doorway, a strange feeling of familiarity washing over her, but she couldn't quite place why the house seemed so familiar.

"Who are you?" The question was curt, but not nearly as curt as the admonishing hiss that followed.

" _Chris_!"

Turning back to the others, Danielle let her attention focus back on the younger man who had just spoken, quickly processing the distrustful look in his eyes and the stiff way he was standing, posture noticeably less relaxed than it had been just a moment before.

Right. She  _was_  acting rather strangely, wasn't she?

Of course, she couldn't exactly figure out what a  _normal_  reaction would have been to all of the strangeness that was suddenly surrounding her… but she figured she could do a little bit better.

"I'm sorry," the older woman continued, strained smile on her lips as she lifted a hand to her chest. "I'm Piper, and this is Leo. Our  _studentlighter_  over there is Chris. He's a bit, uh…  _neurotic_."

Though the whitelighter behind her didn't appear surprised by the assessment of his personality, he remained anything but pleased. Arms dropping from where they had been defensively crossed, he waved a hand pointedly at the newcomer. "I'm just saying, Piper, we don't know who she is, how she got here, or what attacked her."

" _Chris_ ," the older woman interjected again, the name forced through clenched teeth as she kept the smile in place.

"No, it's okay; I get it," Danielle was quick to say, looking between the three and bring to make a conscious effort to act less delusional. She couldn't really figure out what was going on if her saviors got suspicious of her and decided to call in any of the number of bounties she was sure were still on her head. "I'm Dani. Dani Parker. I uh… I'm sorry I barged in… or, you know,  _whatever_  I did."

But Piper dismissed the comment easily, a flippant wave of her hand showing how little she cared about it. "Oh, there was no barging. Just some swirling lights and some appearing out of nowhere."

Danielle winced, but the Elder offered a warm smile before adding, "It happens more often than you think."

"And it  _usually_  results in a  _demon_  of some kind appearing afterwards," came the snarky addendum from the whitelighter.

Though the expression that flickered across Piper's face was one of revived irritation, her brows rose and fell in acknowledgment. "He's actually got a point — albeit one that could have been better put." A sharp glare made her point clear, but the young man didn't appear fazed by the jab. "Come on," the woman offered then, waving the others after her as she moved into what seemed to be the sitting room. "Let's sit down for a second. You're a witch, aren't you, Dani?"

That was the kind of question that got someone killed, but for whatever reason, the woman didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about the whole ordeal. Danielle nearly tripped on her own feet, but managed to catch herself and get settled down in one of the chairs before she made herself look any crazier than she was sure she already looked. A glance up at the whitelighter and the Elder, and she decided a reluctant nod wouldn't result in her immediate execution.

The older woman didn't appear surprised, clearly having deduced as much already. "Do you remember how you got here? Who stabbed you?"

The question brought back several memories and a rush of emotion, but the young witch tried her best to quickly force the pain back down.  _Later_ , she promised herself; she'd sort through everything later. "Ahh…" she managed to say after taking a deep breath, her eyes blinking closed as she tried to focus  _only_  on the name that she was certain the demon had said at some point during his rant.

She must have taken too long. "Dani?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Blinking her eyes back open, Danielle went to offer another forced smile. "I just—" But she ended up cutting herself off once again, however, the second she realized what, exactly, was seeing in the corner of the neighboring room.

That TV… it was  _huge_ , clunky and  _so_  incredibly out of place in a time where—

_Time_.

Elders, whitelighters, giant ass televisions… Was she in the past? Was that what was going on? Had the spell she'd cast somehow sent her back to a time when the Elders were still around, whitelighters were charged with watching over witches, and  _televisions_  were still commonplace in homes?

"Are you sure you didn't miss a concussion, Leo?"

Luckily, despite the hysteria that was growing within her and getting quite close to bubbling over, Danielle managed to process the words that were coming out of Piper's mouth. Fixing what she hoped was a sheepish smile on her lips, the young witch — quite possibly the young witch  _from the future_  — turned back to face the three others, two of whom looked more concerned than anything, while the third seemed only increasingly suspicious.

"Sorry!" she chirped, voice a bit pitchy. "I, uh— I'm just trying to figure out how I got here, exactly. It's… a bit of a blur." Or, at least, the logistics behind how in the hell she'd gotten trapped in the  _past_  were a bit of a blur.

At least the television in the corner didn't seem to be  _that_  old. She thought she remembered seeing electronics similar enough when she was growing up, before holograms made everything else obsolete, and that meant that she couldn't be more than thirty years in the past.

_If_  she was even in the past. Perhaps her spell had just managed to transport her to some sort of magical sanctuary, where the last Elder and one of the last whitelighters happened to be in hiding. Perhaps the television was just an old relic they'd kept, like an antique or something.

But that was no more than wishful thinking, and Danielle knew it. There was no way an Elder was still around, not with everything that had happened, and there was no way that—

"You're saying you don't remember anything about how you got here?" The question had a suspicious edge to it, and Dani was not really a fan of the way that the whitelighter was looking at her with his brow furrowed. She watched as he stepped closer, standing behind the sofa where Piper was sitting and leaning forward, so that his hands rested on the top of the wooden frame.

She sent one last glance at the television, before mentally chastising herself the second the whitelighter followed her gaze, brow furrowed even more when he looked back at her.

"I was fighting a demon," she offered up quickly, hand subconsciously trailing back to cover her stomach as she made a very  _conscious_  effort not to remember  _why_  she'd been fighting the demon in the first place. "But it was dark. I… He stabbed me. And I, uh… I cast a spell. To get away from him, I mean. I… guess that's how I got here."

"You guess?"

Her gaze flickered up to meet narrowed green eyes before just as quickly flickering back to stare at the floor. "I—"

He cut her off before she had the chance to clarify. "Are you nervous?"

"Chris!" Piper snapped for the third time, reaching a hand up diagonally behind her so that she could smack the man on the arm. "Stop that!  _You're_  the one making her nervous, for God's sake!"

"It's okay to be a bit disoriented," came the calming reply of the Elder, as he moved to sit in the only open chair, a few feet away from Danielle. "You almost died —  _would have_  if you hadn't gotten here the minute you did. Just try to focus, and you should be able to recall what happened."

But Dani's problem was  _not_  that she couldn't recall what had happened; her problem was that she was pretty darn sure she knew  _exactly_  what had happened, and it wasn't good.

If she was stuck in the past, then that meant that she might not have her powers any longer, and if she didn't have her powers, then how was she supposed to get back? Or even  _with_  her powers, how was she supposed to go back to the future?  _When_  was she supposed to go back to? To right before Zach had shown up? To afterwards?

A part of her dreaded the idea of going back to  _anything_ of her life, but Danielle knew that she couldn't stay, knew that every moment she remained in the past, she risked changing everything and doing who knows what kind of damage to the future.

And she knew all too well that the future didn't need any more damage.

She needed to get back. But maybe… maybe it wouldn't hurt to get some help with her little demon problem, first.

Surely  _that_  couldn't do any real damage, right?

Her mind made up, the young witch offered Leo a smile before nodding and focusing on the memory. "Vrymar," she announced, the name suddenly coming to her as soon as she fought back the panic enough to clear her mind. "That's what he said his name was, anyways. I didn't get a chance to look at his face."

"Vrymar?"

Danielle glanced up in Chris's direction at the same time Piper tilted her head so that she, too, could send a questioning look in the young man's direction. "You know him, Chris?"

"Yeah," came the whitelighter's answer, as he turned his scrutinizing gaze away from Danielle in order to look down at the other woman. "I've crossed paths with him a few times."

"Seems like you  _cross_   _paths_  with a lot of demons in the—"

" _Leo_!" Piper offered another strained smile, staring pointedly in the Elder's direction as she added, through clenched teeth: "Interrogate later; save innocents now."

Looking between the three, Danielle couldn't help but get the feeling she was very clearly missing something. She also got the feeling, however, that she was far better off not involving herself in whatever it was. Before she could step in to redirect the conversation, though, the sound of a baby crying came from the coffee table, where a white monitor rested, little lights flickering on as the volume of the cry increased.

"Oh!" Looking something between surprised and resigned, the older woman looked down at the baby monitor before turning back to the Elder she'd just been scolding. "Leo, would you mind checking on Wyatt?"

Blue orbs answered the request, and as if nothing had interrupted them, the older woman went right back to talking to her whitelighter.

Danielle, however, barely noticed.

_Wyatt_.

It all suddenly made sense. She  _was_  some twenty-odd years in the past, with the future ruler of all evil probably lying down in a crib just a floor above her. Which made the witch she was sitting across from —  _Piper_  — one of the Charmed Ones.

She should've recognized the name earlier. She should've recognized the  _Halliwell Museum_  earlier.

Oh, she was not safe. She was very not safe.

She needed to  _go._

Hysteria rising within her once again, the young witch — the young witch  _definitely_  from the future — quickly got to her feet, ignoring the slight dizziness that resulted from her sudden movement. "I should go," she announced, but before she even had the chance to step forward, Piper was up on her feet as well, hands extended in an effort to clearly block her exit.

"Wait, wait! You've got an upper-level demon after you. You can't just—"

"You've got a baby here," was the first thing that came to Dani's mind. "I couldn't possibly—"

But the sound of a door opening and shutting cut her off.

"Piper!" a new voice called from the hallway. "You are  _not_  going to believe what— Oh. I am feeling panic! Lots and  _lots_  of panic. Why am I feeling panic?" Considering the words that had just been said, there was a strangely chipper expression on the face of the woman who rounded the corner and glanced around the room, though the smile faltered the second her gaze landed on the clearly unexpected occupant. "I mean," the woman quickly tried to correct, hand lifting to scratch at her head, "would you like to guess why I am feeling panicked, Piper?"

"Phoebe," the witch in question greeted, finally lowering her hands when she realized that the younger woman was no longer headed toward the door. "This is Dani. Dani, this is my sister Phoebe.  _Also_  a witch."

That little piece of information had the newly-introduced sister's lips parting in understanding. "Nice to meet you!" she declared, before tossing her purse down onto one of the open chairs and gesturing back to herself. "So in that case:  _why_  am I feeling panic?"

_Empath_.

Right. She should've been expecting that.

And as one sister filled the other in on what had been missed, Danielle drew in a purposeful breath and once again focused on trying to bury all of her emotions. That, however, proved far more difficult than last time, for she quickly realized that once again, the whitelighter was looking at her in that strangely scrutinizing way of his. It was more than a little bit unsettling.

"Okay!" the short-haired woman called out, after apparently having been filled in. "So what do we need to vanquish this demon? Chris?"

The whitelighter seemed reluctant to turn toward his charge, but he eventually did so, although not without sending another quick glance in Danielle's direction. "I think there's a potion in the book."

"Alright. So I'll go get the book, and you—"

"That's  _really_  not necessary!" Dani insisted before Piper could finish issuing orders, needing more than anything to get out of house. "I appreciate you both wanting to help, but I'm sure I can handle Vrymar on my own. It's nothing to—"

"Nonsense!" Phoebe dismissed. "We've learned that when people show up on our doorstep on the brink of death, it's usually for a reason. We're happy to help."

"But—" The objection died in her throat the second the time-traveling witch saw the Elder coming down off of the last step, a look of concern on his face and a child in his arm.

_Wyatt_.

"Wo—woah!" the empath called out, lurching forward a bit and grabbing onto a chair for support. Her gaze flickered immediately over to Dani, clearly having identified the source of the intense panic she was feeling.

And she wasn't the only one, for the whitelighter, too, seemed to have caught on, his head turning as he looked from his bent-over charge to the woman who was slowly backing away. Only a second later, he disappeared in a swirl of blue lights.

Dani barely had the chance to register the whitelighter's disappearance before she felt a hand on her upper arm, the grip rough and sudden enough to startle a yelp out of her. But the intention behind the sudden grip did not catch her by surprise; reacting on instinct and more than a little bit of that panic that was still swirling around inside of her, the young witch called on her power just as she began to feel the dizzying tug of what she assumed could only have been an attempt at orbing. She deflected the attempt easily.

Too easily, in fact, for in her exceptionally emotional state, she seemed to not simply deflect the attempt at orbing, but deflect it back  _into_  the whitelighter… a little more intensely than she'd intended. A little more intensely than she'd thought  _possible_ , especially considering she hadn't even been sure her powers would  _work_  in the past.

The swirl of blue orbs flew backwards a few feet, crashing into a medium-sized wooden cabinet. He rematerialized with a groan, surrounded by wooden shards and broken glass.

"Leo—!" Piper started to order, but the Elder seemed to have already gotten the message, erupting into a swirling mass of blue lights as well, the child disappearing with him.

Unfortunately, their departure did little to help diminish Danielle's still-growing panic. "Oh!" Hand pressed to her lips, the young witch knocked into the end table before she even realized she had stepped backwards, blue eyes wide as she glanced between the two sisters and the man who was still on the ground, clutching at the back of his head. She stuttered as he looked back up at her, brows furrowed again. "I—"

"Ooh! Piper! Piper!" the younger of the two sisters shouted. "Do something!"

"Like  _what_?" came the quick retort. "I can't freeze her, remember? What do you want me to do, blow her up?"

"No, no!" Dani objected quickly, hands lifting up in a gesture of surrender just as a masculine voice called out a "Yes!"

But luckily for the time-traveller, the injured man appeared to be the only one who thought the solution to their problem was molecular combustion. " _Chris_!" the oldest sister complained once again. "That wasn't an actual suggestion!"

"No," the whitelighter tried again, having propped himself up on an elbow. "Trust me," he urged his charge, before nodding pointedly in Dani's direction. "Try to blow her up."

"No, no, no, no!" the young witch tried again, hands still raised defensively in front of her as she backed up once again. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be here. I should go!"

"Don't move!" Piper commanded, before leaning her head to the side and turning a bit so that she could eye her whitelighter as he finally got back up to his feet. "Why do you want me to blow up the clearly panicking innocent?"

_Clearly panicking innocent_. That much was good, at least. Right?

Still, Dani couldn't really breathe a sigh of relief, not when the whitelighter was still eyeing her as he circled across the room, noticeably favoring his left shoulder a bit, and also noticeably giving a wide berth to the woman he was trying to have blown up.

She watched him carefully as he moved, her heart continuing to pound in her chest. But he seemed to only be watching her as well, and she very quickly started to feel ridiculous. She couldn't blame him for being wary, could she? She  _had_  sort of thrown him into a cabinet. That thought in mind, the young witch finally turned her attention back over to the sisters.

And, apparently, gave the whitelighter exactly the opening he'd been watching for.

A shriek of a warning from Phoebe, and Dani had just enough time to see something flying at her through the air, heading straight for her face. She reacted before she truly thought through how important it was to keep her identity a secret; before she knew what she was doing, she had a hand in the air and a little blue shield blocking the incoming item… which, as it became obvious only a second later when it clattered on the floor, had been nothing more than the baby monitor.

The whitelighter appeared almost smug. " _That's_  why."

* * *


End file.
